161 Responses to CHRISTMAS OPEN THREAD

  1. My Site (click to edit) says:

    either the BBC is a slow learner or the writer of this sentence is careless or ignorant’

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/allanmassie/100059124/an-easy-way-to-remember-the-difference-between-could-and-might/

    Answers on a Crimble card…

    I’m going for c) Probably both.

    Betting on a lot ‘coulds’, especially science-based, according to ‘sources’, ‘polls’ or ‘research’ in 2012.

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    • Millie Tant says:

      The Beeboid sentence in question:

      Westminster could hand Holyrood the legal power to run a Scottish independence referendum, the BBC has learned.

      If they think could instead of might is bad, what would the splenetic Kingsley Amis or Alan Massie do if confronted with the expression might could from the southern USA? Probably burst a vessel!

      Westminster might could hand Holyrood the legal power to run a Scottish independence referendum, the BBC has learned. 😀

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    • Cassandra King says:

      Sources claim that everything that COULD happen MAY happen POSSIBLY at some point.

      Its science Jim but not as we know it.

      Possibly at some point something might happen so in order to prepare for every contingency the world as we know it goes quietly barking up the tree mad?

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  2. George R says:

    INBBC policy re-SOMALIA:-

    1.) accept mass immigration from Somalia to UK, with no limit on numbers (current numbers: about 500,000);

    2.) do not criticise Somalis based in Britain who go to Somalia to undertake jihad there, and then come back to Britain for a spell;

    3.) support campaigns for British taxpayers to donate more funds to Somalia, which may end up with al-Shabab jihadists; do not try to restrict remittances from Somalis in West being sent  back to Somalia, even if such remittances may end up with al-Shabab jihadists.

    Note how in report below, INBBC uses TWO photos of starving Somalians, but NONE of al-Shabab jihadists:-

    “Somalia ‘faces threat to $100m in US remittances'”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16314368

    No more immigration to Britain from Somalia.

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  3. My Site (click to edit) says:

    I took this photo of a Bee on a Mahonia flower on Wednesday (winter solstice).
    I’ve sent it to Chris Huhne. If this isn’t solid evidence that we need to raise income tax to 95%, cover rural Britain with wind turbines, cull the remaining members of the war generation and strip the entire population of what civil liberties they have left, then I don’t know what is! 

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  4. RGH says:

    David, or Sue.

    I’m short of time. Off to Church soon.

    Worth comparing.

    From 26th December 2010

    http://uprootedpalestinian.wordpress.com/2010/12/26/in-bethlehem-shepherds-watching-their-flocks-by-night-are-a-dying-breed/

    From 24th December 2011

    By Jon Donnison, BBC.

    Under heading:

    Bethlehem’s shepherds a dying breed

    By Jon Donnison BBC News, Bethlehem

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16318626

    Churning the same story, same characters, same issues, at the SAME time of year.

    The target is, of course, Israel.

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    • sue says:

      Not off to church, but I hope someone has more time than I have today to properly deconstruct the poisonous anti Israel propaganda piece by Jon Donnison this morning, featured on Today and on the BBC News website.
      Still, it’s Christmas, and Christmas wouldn’t be the same without an innuendo-laden item about Bethlehem. What with a Palestinian shepherd who wishes to remain in the last century for traditional shepherding purposes but probably not so much for his entitlement to medical attention and broadband access, the evil consequences of illegal settlements and the apartheid wall, and not forgetting an admiring hat-tip to the massed marching bands and celebratory bagpipes that constitute the tacky entertainment laid on for religious tourists by those seasonal peace-loving goodwill toward all men Palestinians

      But not only that.
      It’s Christmas eve, right?
      First news briefing, radio 4. Early this morning just as the sun was rising I heard a maiden singing in the valley below. Not exactly. I heard a maiden speaking on the bedside radio.
       “The Saudi Royal Family is praying for rain, because there’s a drought in the kingdom. Not a lot of people knew that, I suppose. But the BBC thought we’d be interested, on Christmas eve, and now Waterstones has a new best-seller, Mein Kampf.  The BBC announcer sounded amused when imparting this news. I wonder who is buying this book?

      Oh, don’t deceive me. Oh never leave me. Ho-ow could you u-use a poor maiden so.

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      • RGH says:

        Gaza Christians long for days before Hamas cancelled Christmas

        Since the Palestinian Authority left the Gaza Strip, festive celebrations and displays of crucifixes have become taboo

        Guardian, 23 Dec 2011

        Sue, I hate it when I’m being patronised by a BBC journo. I hate it when ‘Bethlehem and Shepherds are used to tug my nostalgic childhood memories. I hate it when a BBC journalist recycles Palestinian propaganda to tug at my emotions.

        A BBC which normally regards Christians as strange, misguided, credulous folk.

        I am actually fuming.

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        • Deborah says:

          Classic FM reported today that the Westminster Archbish has spoken in his Christmas speech about the Palestinians in Bethlehem having their houses possessed by the evil Israelis – no context – but then report about the bomb killing Christians in Nigeria – again no context.  I know not the BBC, but just as evil (the RC Archbish, Classic FM and the BBC – a plague on all their houses).

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          • Teddy Bear says:

            One would expect the Westminster Archbishop to be somewhat familiar with the history of the area. That but for the fact of an imperialist power – Rome, dictating to the lawful people of the land – the Jews, who resisted this foreign power and were subsequently ousted, there would be no such thing as Palestinians.

            He’s decided that a foreign power long ago, who really had no right to impose their authority, is okay. Yet what he sees as a foreign power today – Israel is the equivalent of Rome, and it’s only Palestinians that are worthy of sympathy.

            Could it be that this weak cowardly representitive of a weak cowardly Church, at least as far as we observe in the West, sees a small minority of Jews in the world as an easy and safe target, as opposed to the nearly 2 billion Muslims among whom we find Palestinians. So he’s rather be their friend, regardless of real claim to the land.

            Given the spiritual strength shown by this Church leader, is it any wonder fewer and fewer people want to be aligned with it? No doubt this Archbishop, among others, convinces himself that Jesus would be proud of his stance. Never mind that in modern Bethlehem, the Jews Mary and Joseph would have been murdered if today they wandered through it looking for a place to stay.

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      • The Cattle Prod of Destiny says:

        Hmmm, not so sure about this one.  Everyone should read Mein Kampf just as they should read that other bible for the genocidal left, Das Capital.  Unless one read Hitler’s astonishing tome how do you know what he actually said.  How can one object to it if one hasn’t read it?

        Incidentally, anyone know who the royalties for Mein Kampf go to?

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        • RGH says:

          The Bavarian State…who locked him up

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        • TomR says:

          Cattle Prod, the book’s copyright (along with Hitler’s entire estate) is owned by the state of Bavaria, but will enter the public domain on the first of January 2016.  As it is illegal to print or sell the book Germany I do not believe they collect any royalties.  Hitler does have a few surviving relatives (all cousins and nephews, who have reportedly made a pact not to have children for fear of passing on the ‘evil gene’, however, Hitler’s insanity was more the result of him being inbred than any particular gene), and they may be able to claim the copyright, and thus loyalties, but none of them want to (for obvious reasons).

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    • Cassandra King says:

      Yes those poor oppressed islamofasicts are so badly treated by Israel that they are taking out their frustration on Christians unlucky enough to live under their boot.

      Would you want to be a Christian living with a muslim majority? Still the BBC sees no problems, does not see the gross abuse and the daily insults and bullying, does not wish to see it.

      And so real genuine minority persecution and abuse by muslims goes unnoticed and ignored, the real victims are invisible, who cares if Christians are being persecuted? Certainly not the BBC who see only what they want to see and as Christians are not on the BBC approved list of victims they do not exist.

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    • David vance says:

      Fascinating

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  5. Martin says:

    Just caught a bit of Dateline ‘The Christmas edition’ as soon as I saw fat Polly and Bari Abdul Twatman and that little Frech cheese eating surrender monkey they have on I knew it wasn’t worth watching.

    Oh and I also caught a bit of those 5 minutes things the BBC do, one with our mate Billy Bragg. Of course the twat interviewing him just had to ask him about ‘Englishness’.

    Dear BBC, Bragg is not English, he might pretend to be but at heart he’s a rich lefty Islington beeboid elistist. Why do you morons at the BBC only think its OK to talk about Englishness when it’s either with Billy Bragg OR a black man?

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    • paul barnes says:

      I manged the first 10 minutes, during which i was informed that Barak Obama was the reason the Arab Spring happened. At leadt i’ll know whom to blame next year

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      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        The US policy on Libya was a “success”.  “I think Obama’s done brilliantly”.

        What a horrible joke.  “Leading from behind” is a lie.  Contrary to the White House/BBC spin, the President did not want to get involved, full stop. He thought sanctions were working and had to have His arm twisted to join the effort.  Even as these unanimously Left-wing talking heads admit that it was all US bombs and US intelligence which enabled the regime change, they claim it’s a success because the President pretended it wasn’t so.

        Toynbee even stated that this was the kind of US action she wanted to see in future: the US can still bomb the crap out of whomever it likes, so long as the President acts like the US isn’t leading the charge.  I’m pretty sure she doesn’t realize what she said. So superficial, so driven by emotion over reason.

        I also love/hate how Toynbee wrings her hands over whether or not the Arab world will ever forgive us for propping up all those evil dictators, when she never wants us to remove any of them. At the same time, her twisted valuation of human life compels her to believe that things would have been better for (insert Muslim country here) if they had become a mullocracy twenty years ago.

        These people are so detached from morality, yet they are among the elite tastemakers.   And Toynbee has the gall to point at Atwan and say, “People like you, who are on the Left.”

        People like whom?  How dishonest is this woman, and how dishonest is Esler to let her say that?

        No wionder Craig rips this show apart so often.

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    • cjhartnett says:

      No…Billy Bragg is none of these things.
      I`d argue that it`s even worse.
      He is a forelock tugging, affected version of the Islington ideal of the working-class chappie made good.
      He renounced all that army business and found his voice at the bottom of Dick Van Dykes trunk.
      He played hopeless “songs” but Neil Kinnock saw another carpet bagger, and adopted him for the preposterous Red Wedge.
      Hardy, Jupitus, Weller…all came from that crock of crap.
      No doubt he`ll be doing an impression of Jack Lang for the EuroBard we`ll be getting imposed very soon!

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    • OWEN MORGAN says:

      Back in the nineties, a man called Nick Tate made the apparently innoccuous suggestion that schoolchildren in England be taught English history.   “Newsnight”, that day, was presented by Kirsty Wark, who invited comments on Tate’s idea from a Muslim academic and a recently elected MP.   As far as I recall, the academic thought that teaching English history in England was a pretty sensible thing to do (I bet he wasn’t invited back!).

      The MP was Roseanna Cunningham, then recently elected to represent Perth and Kinross for the SNP.    There was no legitimate reason to invite her opinion on the teaching of English history.   By her own party’s logic, she had no right to comment.   When she produced some moronic drivel, to the effect that England had no history, having been a group of small kingdoms, it became clear that this Scots Nat knew nothing about Scottish history, either.

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    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      I had to switch off as soon as Bragg came on. I can’t even stand the sound of his voice.
      The only time he might ever comes in to contact with a working class Englishman is when he’s interfering with the democratic process and telling people how they should and shouldn’t vote.

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  6. Umbongo says:

    Oh look!  To give the nation a completely unbiased assessment of 2011, particularly the (ludicrously described) “Arab Spring”, here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16217726 the BBC World Service brings on the well-known apologist for Communism and the Gulag, Eric Hobsbawm.  Hobsbawm, however gifted (if he is) as an historian is one whose presence – let alone celebration – among a civilised people is a stain on decent society.  Nevertheless this apologist for murder is welcomed by the BBC and allowed to pollute the airwaves.  Were there really no other historians available?

    Tangentially, I reckon one of the few  reasons to be a republican (or, anyway, to regard the Queen’s guardianship of the nation’s constitutional and other proprieties as not exactly a series of unalloyed triumphs) is the awarding of the Companion of Honour to Hobsbawm in 1998.  Mind you, I suspect the Queen had her arm twisted by Blair et al.  Even so, a CH is in the personal gift of the Queen so she was capable of refusing.

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    • cjhartnett says:

      Anyone able to tell me why we hounded Anthony Blunt, but regard Eric Hobsbawn as a dear old treasure?
      Are there rules to traitor hierarchies of hate?…Miliband(R), Toynbee(A), Gormley, Scanlon. Jones…and of course dear old Eric Hobsbawn.
      Got to be a treachery scale somewhere!

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      • Umbongo says:

        I don’t think Hobsbawn actually spied for the USSR although I suspect he would have done so had he been asked.  He certainly gave – and continues to give – comfort to this country’s enemies, not all of whom live abroad or are foreign nationals.  Many of this nation’s foulest enemies are safely ensconced here; generally in the political class and, specifically (as publication of the interview I originally referenced evidences) at the BBC.

        Blunt was closely involved in the betrayal of our (and our allies’) secrets to the Soviets.  Even so, he was only “hounded” towards the end of his life after almost a lifetime of being protected by the then political class from prosecution and the execution for treason he richly deserved.

        Interestingly both Blunt and Hobsbawm received honours in the personal gift of the Queen.  I have no idea whether the Queen knew that her advisor on art, as Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures was a traitor.  Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me if she did know but accepted that he greatly regretted such youthful folly.  However, once his treachery was publicly revealed (but only then) Blunt was stripped of his KCVO.

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        • Umbongo says:

          Just an aside: Blunt was, I believe, distantly related to the royal family and, as such, might have been forgiven or excused a peccadillo like treason.  That he confessed in 1948 and received his KCVO in 1956 points to such a conclusion.

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        • dave s says:

          The BBC/Guardian axis is incapable of understanding the instinctive patriotism of ordinary Englishmen and women.
          A truly alien concept for these instinctive aliens.
          So betrayal and disloyalty is not some thing to be abhorred but rather something to be celebrated.
          Blunt and the rest will always get a sympathetic hearing but we are told that our loyalty is to a lost cause and a people the axis would rather ceased to exist.
          It is in rediscovering our past that we will eventually defeat these traitors by instinct and tyrants by inclination.

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        • cjhartnett says:

          Quite right Umbongo.
          Wasn`t saying that he spied for the Russians, but the likes of Jack Jones, Guy Burgess etc would all have been on some Soviet star chart I`m sure.
          I reckon the likes of Hobsbawn would have been of the “long march through the institutions” type…mulching the soil and more than ready to be chosen as part of a Government of National/Patriotic Salvation…much as the Greeks and the Italians seem to be in need of.
          In some ways the likes of Hobsbawn and EP Thompson were even worse in that they did their mooching for the USSR unaided, unpaid and uninvited…they CHOSE to spend their lives in cloistered towers at our expense whilst apologising, defending and otherwise slipping around in the blood of the kulaks, Poles,Jews,Mensheviks,Trotskyites….

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          • AndyUk06 says:

            I think your analysis of Eric Hobsbawm is spot on.  He, like many academics can talk the talk when it comes to revolution, but clearly do not have the brains nor stomach for carrying it out, much preferring to snipe and undermine from a safe distance.

            This entry from a BBC interview he did sums him up perfectly:

            In 1994, he answered “yes” in a BBC interview to the question, “What (your view) comes down to is saying that had the radiant tomorrow actually been created, the loss of 15, 20 million people might have been justified?

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            • Umbongo says:

              Oh I don’t think Hobsbawm would ever have sullied his hands with actual violence, torture or murder.  He would have been (may be, if he lives long enough and he and his likes’ campaign to undermine this country is eventually successful) the Mikhail Suslov http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Suslov of the British equivalent of the Soviet Praesidium.

              Suslov was the ideologue of the CPSU and, as a heroic (as I’m sure Hobsbawm would describe it) aside, was closely concerned in murder of dissident minorities (eg Chechens and stroppy Balts during and after WW2).  Hobsbawm would be right at home in our Mikhail’s shoes.

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  7. Jeremy Clarke says:

    Sandi Toksvig: why?

    God, today’s News Quiz has been crap. The five participants have spent the last 25 minutes laughing at their own jokes, yet the funniest one-liner was a quote from The Guardian. And why do I always feel there is an undertone of malice in everything Jeremy Hardy says?

    I may be in the minority but I love The Now Show and The News Quiz is obviously keeping its Friday evening/Saturday lunchtime slot warm while it is on hiatus – well, not so much as keeping it warm but laying a horrible, stinking turd in its place.

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  8. jeff says:

    Anyway some good news. I’ve heard a rumour that Billy Bragg is going to entertain the protestors outside St Paul’s Cathedral. Personally I would rather be water boarded!

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    • cjhartnett says:

      Wonder if our Bill would like to bring in the revolution if I were to send him up to London with a bit of lighter fluid and some Zippo firelighters?
      The revolution in Tunisia started with this wizard wheeze apparently…and if Bill thinks self-immolation “a bit harsh”, then at least burn his guitars so a few spongers might stay warm.
      Jesus would have done the same, I`m sure.

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Would Bragg still be allowed to keep his large house if the Occupiers got their way? Yes, of course, as he’s one of the nomenklatura, and knows it. That’s why he can do this stuff.  Artists in the Soviet Union who went along with the regime lived in luxury while the rest of the population had to stand in long lines for bread and toilet paper.

      Bragg would be the Khrennikov of the kind of Britain he dreams of.

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      • Reed says:

        A reminder of the 1% status of two of the cheerleaders of the supposed 99% – lefty Royalty indeed…

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        • ian says:

          Nice, big places for housing the homeless. I expect there is plenty of space in bishops’ palaces too. And senior BBC employees’ palaces come to that. Or perhaps asylum seekers/terrorists from Somalia could be housed in them instead. Think of the enrichment and vibrant colour(?) they would bring to these hideously white abodes. 

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      • My Site (click to edit) says:

        What would be funny, is if some Romanian squatters managed to get in to Bragg’s mansion! 

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        • ian says:

          Can it be, er, “arranged”? I’d contribute if we could arrange a whip-round for transport.

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  9. George R says:

    I think INBBC fits neatly into this sort of differential application of ‘multiculturalism’ to Christianity (negatively), and to Islam (positively):-

    “When Islam met the diversity industry…”

    By Damian Thompson.

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100125981/when-islam-met-the-diversity-industry/

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  10. pounce_uk says:

    How the world famous bBC is destroying the ‘English’ Language in order to further its leftwing bent.

    Here is a headline from the bbC, anybody notice anything incorrect about it?

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    • AndyUk06 says:

      Yes, I spotted the deliberate mistake.  It should read ‘RAF man murdered by terrorists in Afghanistan’.

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  11. My Site (click to edit) says:

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100125981/when-islam-met-the-diversity-industry/

    ‘Recently I was at a BBC bigwigs’ dinner party in a London hotel. The women were wearing unintentional fancy dress (theme: Blair Babes 1997). The men weren’t wearing ties but kept their top buttons done up – natty! The staff were waved around like servants at Versailles. The bill would have made a Russian oligarch blanch. Isn’t it wonderful how far the licence fee can stretch?’

    Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, knowing who is in charge of our national moral compass, don’t it?

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    • Reed says:

      …and there lies the mentality of entitlement, lack of accountability, and complete disconnect from the source of funding that is responsible for the huge amount of waste in the entire public sector. How easy it is to be ‘generous’ with other peoples’ money.
      >:o

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      • Dazed-and-Confused says:

        “Community, Identity, Stability.”…. “Metre 152″…“Entitlement, lack of accountability, disconnection from reality”..

        The beeboid sector identified succinctly, in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World

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  12. Millie Tant says:

    Aghh, just realised I posted this in the old Open thread:

    For anyone who’s interested in this evening’s music programmes:

    Opera on Radio 3 at 5 00 – 8 15 pm

    Jazz record requests on Radio 3 at 8 15 pm

    Carols from King’s on TV BBC Two at 5 45 – 7 00 pm.

    Sorry, Christmas but I’m going with the Met broadcast:

    Today, 17:00 on BBC Radio 3
    Donizetti’s La Fille du Regiment
    Live from the Met
    Presented by Margaret Juntwait, with guest commentator Ira Siff.
    Donizetti’s La Fille du Regiment with Nino Machaidze (Marie) and Lawrence Brownless (Tonio). Yves Abel conducts the Metropolitan Opera orchestra and chorus.
    The opera is set in a Swiss village in the Tyrolean Alps, where a French regiment is passing through. They’re led by Sergeant Sulpice and the regiment has a “daughter” named Marie – though she’s really more like their mascot and their maid. They found her when she was only a baby, and they’ve raised her ever since.
    Marie is in love with a Swiss villager named Tonio. Unfortunately, there’s a complication: she’s only allowed to marry a member of the Regiment.
    The opera is famous for Tonio’s aria “Ah! mes amis, quel jour de fête!” which has been called the “Mount Everest” for tenors as it features nine high Cs.
    Marie…..Nino Machaidze (soprano)
    Tonio…..Lawrence Brownlee (tenor)
    Sergeant Sulpice…..Maurizio Muraro (bass)
    Marquise of Berkenfeld…..Ann Murray (mezzo-soprano)
    Hortensius…..James Courtney (bass)
    A corporal…..Roger Andrews (bass)
    The Duchess of Krakenthorp…..Kiri Te Kanawa (spoken role)
    New York Metropolitan opera orchestra and chorus
    Conductor…..Yves Abel.

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  13. Invicta1066 says:

    Have just been watching Narnia, the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe on BBC TV. Loved the scene where as the three children and the two beavers were escaping from the Wicked Witch and the Wolves (I like wolves, had a husky for 14 years) across the frozen river, when a sudden thaw saw the ice melt at an alarming rate, the frozen waterfall burst and the queen’s dwarf complained about the heat!
    Couldn’t see Attenborough or any BBC Warmists, but I bet it won’t be too long before this is used as evidence of Global warming!
    Just in case there are any new, pro leftie BBC trolls on here, the above is what we British call irony. Like tinny but made of iron
    Merry Christmas.

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  14. james1070 says:

    A Nice article about the most popluar polititians on Youtube by the BBC. Dan Hannan and Nigel Farage come out on top.

    YouTube political pops: Daniel Hannan tops the charts

    However at a closer looking at the rankings, the BBC slips into a Soviet style counting method, it places Ed Milliband above William Hague even though Hague has more views. A  genuine mistake by the BBC?

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    • Reed says:

      Here’s a related article in The Telegraph by Dan Hannan…      
      The BBC has difficulty admitting the degree of public hostility to the EU      
           
      According to the BBC, three of the four most watched politicians on YouTube in 2011 were me, Nigel Farage and Margaret Thatcher. It was rather sweet of the Beeb to run the story at all. Still, it seems odd that they managed to report it at such length without considering what the three of us have in common.
           
           
      Also note one of the comments :      
           
      Frank Fisher      
      What amused me was that they mentioned that Gordon Brown came high up the rankings, but, umm, failed to mention *why*.      
           
      Gordon Brown picking his nose      


           
           
      Gordon Brown gurning like a madman      


           
           
      Gordon Brown edited for idiocy      


           
           
      Gordon Brown, going mental      


           
           
      Like Milliband, he draws the viewers, but for entirely the wrong reasons.   

      http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100126046/what-the-youtube-popularity-charts-tell-us-about-public-attitudes-to-the-eu/

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    • Nota Sheep says:

      That’s the result of employing social sciences and English graduates, not a mathematical bone in their bodies.

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  15. George R says:

    But watch out for HANNAN, as he campaigns on Turkey’s behalf to get 80 million Muslim Turks into E.U.

    “Daniel Hannan Shamefully Denies Armenian Genocide.”

    [Opening extract]:

    “I’ve written before about Daniel Hannan, the Conservative MEP and Conservative Friends of Turkey member who expends almost as much effort trying to get Turkey into the European Union as he does trying to get Britain out of it. He is a shameless, conscienceless propagandist for the Turkish cause. But today he has reached a new low. In a blog post saying we should all support Turkey in its dispute with France over the Armenian Genocide bill passed by the French government, he implies the events are shrouded in so much uncertainty that only future inquiries undertaken by specialist scholars could establish whether it was really a genocide.”

    http://stopturkey.blogspot.com/2011/12/daniel-hannan-shamefully-denies.html

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  16. Jonathan S says:

    this Lapland thingy is a load of shite

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  17. Jonathan S says:

    On the Road with Tracy Emin on the news channel, what a load of shite as well

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  18. Jonathan S says:

    fucking hell Tracy Emin’s a mental case

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  19. Foxy Brown says:

    “Chart the Year”, on Five Live, presented by Richard Bacon – looked at the top twenty news stories of 2011.  The News International phone hacking saga and the subsequent Leveson Inquiry was deemed to be most important issue, coming in at number one. The Beeb is not being entirely disinterested here – more Murdoch bashing.

    BBC delenda est.

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  20. My Site (click to edit) says:

    Aaaah, that’ll be the “moderate and non-violent” Muslim Brotherhood that Bowen was telling us about.

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  21. hippiepooter says:

    Merry Christmas all.

    I’m just watched the BBC‘s ‘Nativity Story’. Although it seems the scripts got mixed up when filming and its ended up a ‘gritty social realism / kitchen sink drama’. A script mix-up with Eastenders it seems.

    I suppose this would explain why it portrays Joseph taking Mary to Bethlemhem with a grudge against her for being an ‘adulteress’, and when they arrived at Bethlehem the reason they could find no room at the inns is because everyone knew of her ‘adultery’.

    Scripture does give a somewhat more epiphanal version of events.

    What the BBC broadcast at 9am this morning tells us more about the BBC than the Nativity. A BBC that believes that the narrative of the Nativity should be determined more by the sensibilities of Guardian editorials than the Gospel testimony of the Apostles.

    Once more, I bid you all a very Merry Christmas as we celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace

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    • cjhartnett says:

      Funnily enough, I do know that the writer did indeed write scripts for Eastenders at the BBC.
      I myself found it very good overall…I`m a bit of a scriptural type myself, but recognise that none of us were there…so this fantastic story does lend itself to artistic interpretation and licence.
      Indeed ,I`m grateful whenever any Beeb production has a go at this story-I`ll worry when they won`t want to retell it.
      My thought on watching it was that Mary and Joseph would coin it in on Fortean Times/Psychic TV these days.

         0 likes

      • hippiepooter says:

        Yeah, one must look on the plus side. It did manage to retain some key ingredients of the Christmas Story, and the (cough) ‘innovations’ certainly gave me a laugh for the unintended BBC self-parody that they were. One of the production companies behind it was Red Planet, which if memory serves the BBC commissioned to do a hatchet job on Geert Wilders.

        Still, what followed was certainly provided relief that there is still a not inconsiderable chunk of BBC soil that is forever England .. (and Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland too … ) ..

           0 likes

        • Alfie Pacino says:

          Indoubt very much that Red Planet Pictures have had anything to do with any hatchet job on Geert Wilders – they are an independant drama production company specialising in drama series.
          You must have mstaken them for someone else

             0 likes

  22. George R says:

    NIGERIA.

    Islamic jihadists increase murders of Christians on Christmas Day.

    “Nigeria churches hit by blasts during Christmas prayers”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16328940

    A broader context for INBBC:

    “Arab Spring” cleaning: The “religious cleansing” of Christianity from the Mideast

       0 likes

    • London Calling says:

      Dang, it’s those “exploding churches” again. Hit by blasts. Not by Muslims or Islamists or anyone connected to the RoP. Perhaps its those Rosicrucians? And interesting the attackers have something against buildings, as they hit churches, and by inference, not any Christians that happened to be in them. A local branch of the Nicholas Pevsner architectural criticism movement? ” I just can’t abide those Transept crossing naves and cruciform layout. Lets ‘ave ’em”
      bBC interns writing the headlines again I see.

         0 likes

  23. Louis Robinson says:

    Am I alone in being a trifle disconcerted by the BBC World Service news bulletins referring to the Duke of Edinburgh as “Queen ELIZABETH’S husband”? Shouldn’t that be “The Queen’s husband” or simply “The Duke of Edinburgh”?

       0 likes

    • Louis Robinson says:

      A few hours later and now the BBC world service magazine programmes are referring to “Her Majesty The Queen”, while News still cllings to “Queen Elizabeth”. Dissension in the ranks? 

         0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The World Service isn’t meant for your ears. It’s aimed at ignorant foreigners like myself who may not know the Queen’s name or who the Duke of Edinburgh is.

      Come to think of it, more and more of the BBC is not meant for your ears. For example, their goal for the US division is no longer to inform the license fee payers about US issues but is instead to attract US viewers, increasing ratings and revenue. Hence all the new hires to create lightweight, magazine-style pieces instead of in depth news and analysis. The BBC has moved far beyond its original remit here.

         0 likes

      • Jeremy Clarke says:

        “The World Service isn’t meant for your ears”

        Certainly the voice of Lyse Doucet isn’t meant for anyone’s ears. If you tortured a cat, it would sound something like Ms. Doucet.

        And I do wish she would take that golf-ball out of her mouth when she speaks. 🙂

           0 likes

  24. hatethebias says:

    Back to my personal bete noir – the “Profile” programme.

    This time it was the Archbish of Canterbury. Not quite a hagiography; 90% of the comment was enthusiasticor or mildly critical from a left wing viewpoint. He apparently was not completely true to his progressive views. Too much compromise with the dreaded Evangelical/African wing.

    Only one critical note from the right, balanced by masses of views from the “progressive” left/LGBT wing, withe plenty of comment from the leader of the LGBT Christian group. Apparently allowed himself to be bullied by the African bisops!

    No mention of his self description as a “hairy lefty”, his membership of CND, his espousal of extreme left wing causes in his youth, such that MI5 felt it necessary to keep tabs on him. His comments on Sharia law, and his guest editorship of the New Statesman in which he championed a left wing view of society were glossed over as “taken out of context” (the last justification of the scoundrel) and “deliberately misunderstood”.

    He was generally treated extremely sympathetically. He was descibed as having a “huge intellect – a hinterland reaching clear across to France!”. Sometimes I wish he would just go over there and stay permanently!

    This nauseating farago of progressive rubbish was about par for the course for this programme.

    The BBC: “Bias – it’s what we do”.

       0 likes

  25. David Preiser (USA) says:

    There seems to be some disagreement among the ranks on whether or not to spin for their beloved Obamessiah. The link from the BBC website landing page about the recent tax cut extension deal says this:


    Obama in tax victory over house

    (screenshot below)

    The link from the US & Canada page says this:

    Obama wins battle over payroll tax

    (screenshot below)

    But the blurb actually says it’s a “rare” win for Him. Oh my, how the mighty have fallen. The headline for the online article itself says this:


    Payroll tax deal passes Congress in rare win for Obama

    If this is a “rare” victory, how to explain the BBC praise for Him accomplishing so much during His time in office?  At the beginning of this year, the BBC sought out some UK “experts” to rank the US Presidents for the legislative achievements. As He’s still in power…sorry…office, the current President was not included, but the “experts” agreed that He would rank in the Top 10 of all time. How could He rank so high if this is a “rare” victory?

    Shortly before last year’s midterm elections, an anonymous BBC News Online Beeboid casually admitted that “swollen Democrat majorities” were responsible for the President’s legislative accomplishments. The article then stated that the President wouldn’t be doing much ever again if He lost those majorities. Which means the President is a divider, not a uniter, and is a poor political negotiator. This is not news to anyone who remembers some of the first words out of His mouth as President: “I won”.  Censored by the BBC, of course, so BBC audiences will have no idea, and will have bought into the BBC-led illusion of His greatness.

    This BBC assessment of Him from May of this year also accidentally lets the truth slip through. Again it says that the Democrats in Congress did all the work for Him. Anyone who looks elsewhere for their information on US issues will know that Pelosi and her cohorts actually wrote the ObamaCare laws, and Frank and Dodd wrote the banking reforms. He did nothing except rubber-stamp them. But the BBC portrays it as all His agenda.

    So this one is “rare” because He’s been useless since the Republicans took over the House? Is this the transformational figure the BBC told you about?

    Without that supermajority doing all the work, He’s nothing.  What happened to uniting the country? What happened to bi-partisanship? Even the BBC’s reporting reveals over and over again – whether they realize it or not – that He is incapable of working with others, incapable of bi-partisanship, incapable of real leadership.

    Yet they paint this tax cut extension as a victory for Him.  In fact, even though the mainstream media is spinning it as a Republican defeat, that’s hardly the case. On closer examination, it’s clear that this is only temporary, and not even for a full fiscal quarter. Which means it won’t help any small businesses hire workers. Not only that, but it will all obviously have to be negotiated again soon.  Not much of a solid victory at all. It’s more like a temporary holding of ground.

    The other key factor here is what even the BBC admits is a loss for Him: the Keystone Pipeline deal.  He tried to kick that can into 2013, so that He wouldn’t anger the far-Left and evironmentals. But the Republicans forced Him to set a date for a decisions within 60 days.

    The Keystone deal actually will create tens of thousands of jobs, and lower fuel prices over time for everyone in the US, not to mention reduce our funding for Islamo-fascist states. And now the President will have to make a decision that will hang around His neck like an albatross for the election, whichever way it goes. Either way it hurts His election chances, and He knows it.

    In short, forcing a decision on Keystone is a much, much bigger victory for the Republicans than the temporary tax cut extension is a loss.

    But don’t expect to hear that point of view from the BBC.  Hell, they can’t even say “bi-partisanship” anymore.

       0 likes

    • Louis Robinson says:

      The World Service is trailing a program (airdate 31st December on BBC.com) in which learned reporters (like Mardell) will be giving their predictions for 2012. I can hardly wait!

         0 likes

  26. cjhartnett says:

    I did try to give Giles Fraser the benefit of the doubt  in his “How Constantine invented Christmas” programme on Radio 4, this Christmas Day.
    I came to the show knowing that he was one of the heroes of the St Pauls sit-in( hero to the Beeb of course, not to the rest of the planet); but still-theology is theology…I might learn something!
    And indeed I did…according to Giles, Christianity is a conspiracy against CND/OWS and we have the warmonger Constantine to blame for toning down the radical Jesus.
    Dreadful…nothing about the need to discern and to work out when to oppose and when it might be best to count the cost and consolidate…all Giles cared about was Israel, Iraq and bankers in effect.
    Compare Rowans twaddle today(rioters=bankers, pt94) with Benedict…and weep!
    Giles is just a cut-off from the altarcloth of Rowan and the like….and in fact both Cameron and the Queen have given better Christmas messages than Dr Williams.
    Think the Cof E deserves a little better than Mr Messy as its Archbishop, before we get to fold the whole shebang away as no longer fit  for purpose…so maybe Islam might want a few polishing cloths for its swords before we chuck it!

       0 likes

    • Louis Robinson says:

      Here’s the link to the Rowan twaddle, suitable spu by HuffPo. The CofE is beyond saving. 

      http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/12/25/archbishop-of-canterbury-rowan-williams-christmas_n_1169168.html

         0 likes

      • dave s says:

        Now Christmas day has passed I can offer an opinion on Rowan Williams.
        A disaster for the Cof E and not the man this country deserves in that important post.
        If one was to invent a confused leftwing cleric Williams would have been thought too incredible to qualify.
        His retirement would add lustre to his tenure.

           0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Some naughty people set up a little Nativity scene in the middle of the Occupy DC encampment. Needless to say, the Occupiers were not amused.

      Whose side would Fraser and the ArchBeard take, I wonder?

         0 likes

      • London Calling says:

        Delicious. People who Occupy not entirely happy with other people excercising their right to Occupy, diverting attention demanded by the first Occupiers. You can almost hear them demand “Hey! This is our space! We stole it first!”

           0 likes

  27. George R says:

    NIGERIA.

    Useful update on the Islamic jihadists of Boko Haram:

    “Boko Haram: the group behind the Nigerian attacks”

    by Duncan Gardham.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/nigeria/8977513/Boko-Haram-the-group-behind-the-Nigerian-attacks.html

       0 likes

  28. George R says:

    LIBYA: INBBC’s Ms ALLEN, acts as Tourism Agent for Islamic Libya, even using pro-Islamic, tourist-brochure language, as in her first sentence:

    “A cluster of women, all modestly dressed in head scarves…”

    (from) –

    ‘Libya’s ruins: Will they pull the tourists?’

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16304439

       0 likes

  29. Jeremy Clarke says:

    Ingredients:

    One thoroughbred race-horse;
    One gun;
    One whip.

    Recipe:

    1) Introduce the thoroughbred to the world;
    2) Sit back and enjoy the success;
    3) Shoot said horse after it becomes crap;
    4) Leave to mature for 15 years;
    5) Flog it mercilessly.

    Delicious. Absolutely Fabulous, in fact.

    I hear the Beeb are planning a Lovejoy Christmas special next Christmas.

       0 likes

  30. Martin says:

    I see the Daily Mail is showing that Cameron’s popularity is on the up, the beeboids won’t be happy at this.

    I’m betting there will be a lot of beeboid plotting over expensive wine, champers and Cocaine over the next few days to see how they can herlp out the total loser Red Ed in 2012.

       0 likes

  31. cjhartnett says:

    Great to see Victoria Wood slash and burn the Beeb culture in 2000 with her Christmas Special.
    Having seen it, it`s safe to say why the great comedienne has hardly had a gig at the BBC ever since.

       0 likes

  32. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC and how it rewrites History in which to make the Royal Navy the guilty party.
    How Germany’s feared Scharnhorst ship was sunk in WWII
    So the bBC tells the story about how the RN sank the scourge of the Russian convoys, yet for some strange reason the article is inflected with how evil the Royal Navy was, for not only sinking this beautiful ship for leaving sailors to drown. I quote from the article:
    The Scharnhorst was greatly feared. She was the most successful fighting ship of any navy during World War II and she was the bravest ship… She looked magnificent and beautiful. I would describe her as the most beautiful fighting ship of any navy… We switched our searchlight on and I remember our captain calling out to the men in the water “Scharnhorst gesunken?” and the reply came back “Ja, Scharnhorst gesunken”, so we threw scrambling nets down and began to haul these men aboard. Thirty-six were saved out of 2,000 men.We then received an order from the commander-in-chief to join the Duke of York. So we switched off the searchlight, pulled up the scrambling nets and steamed away… We could still hear voices calling from the black of that Arctic winter night, calling for help, and we were leaving those men to certain death within minutes.. I can hear those voices and I grieve for those men every day of my life.I’ve even had someone accuse me of being a traitor because I praised the bravery of the German sailors. I can imagine their feelings as that searchlight went out and they heard that ship steaming away. I truly can imagine the feelings of those men.
    So there you have it people, as told by somebody who was there, how the nasty Brits can only be evil in war. Now here are a few things the bbC doesn’t bother to tell you.

       0 likes

    • pounce_uk says:

      So in my last I wrote about how the bBC relates the story of the sinking of the Scharnhorst as only the bbC can, the Nazis were victims. Well here is the official account from the London gazette from the 7th August 1947.

      SINKING OF THE GERMAN BATTLECRUISER

      SCHARNHORST

      ON THE 26ra DECEMBER, 1943.

      The accompanying Despatch was submitted

      on the 2&th January, 1944, to the Lords

      Commissioners of the Admiralty by Admiral

      Sir BRUCE A. ERASER, K.C.B., K.B.E.,
      Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet.
      So according to the bbC story only the destroyer HMS Matchless  searched in the middle of winter (26/27th December off the coast of Norway for a few minutes until told to sail away and the narrator still feels guilt at leaving men in the water.

         0 likes

      • pounce_uk says:

        Here’s the official account:

         Three cruisers and eight destroyers were

        now in the target area and DUKE OF YORK

        steered to the northward to avoid the melee.

        All that could be seen of the SCHARNHORST

        was a dull glow through a dense cloud of

        smoke, which the starshell and searchlights of

        the surrounding ships could not penetrate. No

        ship therefore saw the enemy sink but it seems

        fairly certain that she sank after a heavy underwater

        explosion which was heard and felt in
        several ships at about 1945.


           0 likes

        • Pounce says:

          JAMAICA rejoined DUKE OF YORK  

          to the northward whilst BELFAST, NORFOLK  

          and most of the destroyers searched the  

          area until 2040, during which time SCORPION  

          picked up 30 survivors and MATCHLESS six.  


             0 likes

          • Pounce says:

            SCORPION reported subsequent^ that the  

            Captain and the Commander of SCHARNHORST  

            were seen in the water seriously  

            wounded; the Captain was dead before he  

            could be reached, the Commander grasped a  

            life-line Ibut succumbed (before he could be  

            hauled in. 

               0 likes

            • Pounce says:

              Soon after 2100 SHEFFIELD rejoined  

              Force i and I ordered all forces in the  

              area to proceed independently to Kola Inlet  

              where they arrived without incident throughout  
              27th December.  

                 0 likes

              • Pounce says:

                So the Scharnhorst sank in a very rough sea in the middle of winter at 1945hrs , the Royal Navy ships (14 of them) searched for an hour and after 85 minutes the search was called off. Oh and how did the ship sink, she capsized and then sank straight away.  
                So  did the Royal Navy really leave 2000 men to their fate as the bBC article tries to paint or did a ship that had been battered senseless for over 12 hours , that had been hit by a minimum of 8 torpedoes , which then capsized and went down within minutes take most  of her crew with her.  Lets not forget that the life expectancy of somebody in the water in that region at that time of year (And not in a storm) is in minutes if not seconds.


                The bBC re-writing history in order to further its leftwing bent.  

                   0 likes

                • Pounce says:

                  My apologies over the numerous small postings. But the bloody site won’t allow me to post in bigger chunks??

                     0 likes

                • Cassandra King says:

                  Strange then that the BBC felt no need to explain how tens of thousands of allied seamen were left to drown by the Germans, how they sank millions of tons of shipping and left the crews to die, how U boats waited for the ‘bone collectors'(ships designated to pick crews of torpedoed ships) and sank them. In fact the cruelest of wars was started by Germany, the unrestrained total war of the sea lanes, no mercy given and none expected and tens of thousands of men women and children at the bottom of the sea give mute testimony to that type of war, they get no BBC airtime do they? They suffered a fate that the Germans who decreed their fate suffered themselves in the end.

                  Total war, they started it and they suffered for the starting of it and along the way many died terrible deaths because of it and in the end became the victims of a war of their own design, no mercy, total war, the aim of terrorising the sea lanes and strangling trade to an embattled Island nation, no rules and devil take the hindmost which in fact was the case all too many times. In fact Germany bears full and total responsibility for the Battle for the Atlantic, our response was one of the survival instinct, our crime in the eyes of the revisionista BBC was to win it in the end.

                  U boats gunning down survivors, and leaving crews to die, commerce raiders leaving survivors to die, it was the cruelest of wars and any ship staying behind to rescue survivors was likely to be torpedoed by U boats who often lurked for that purpose, the destroyer escort being a particular prize. The Scharnhorst destroyed many ships, most of them unarmed and left thousands of civilians to die, she was a giant steel predator, a merciless killer of ships and men, any ship stopping to help was likely to end up with a torpedo in its guts, it happened on a regualr basis.

                  So what do we have? An opportunity to revisit a brutal type of total war, the Germans needing to choke off sea lanes and trade and the allied Navies needing to maintain them. In fact the Royal Navy often left sailors to drown because the risks of picking up survivors was too great, sometimes U boats would hide beneath survivors to shield themselves from depth charges.

                  The war of the sea lanes was perhaps the most savage of wars with no rules other than that of killing the enemy, U boats struck without warning and without mercy, women and children died along with men in the cruel sea of war, it is what the war was all about, a total war carried out by the Germans who asked for no mercy and certainly showed little enough. This is the BBC in action, we hear nothing of the German raiders many victims, and not just men of war but civilians. The perfect BBC report.

                     0 likes

    • james1070 says:

      From the BBC site..

      The Scharnhorst was greatly feared. She was the most successful fighting ship of any navy during World War II and she was the bravest ship.

      Are they describing a Nazi warship or a character from an  episode of Thomas the Tank Engine?

         0 likes

      • Pounce says:

        What the bBc leave out is the most successful fighting ship of WW2 was in fact the USS Enterprise. 911 planes shot down, 71 ships sunk, damaged 192 ships.

           0 likes

      • cjhartnett says:

        Reckon you`ve got a fine cartoon coming here, James!
        The brave little toaster meets the braver lickle Scarnhorst.
        Jolly Junckers and Bella Belgrano and so on.
        And the BBC will be back to tell us about history being dumbed down in schools once they`re done with Mark Thompsons wine cellar!

           0 likes

  33. Pounce says:

    HAs anybody else noticed how the attacks on 5 churches in Nigeria has been downplayed by the bbC into:  
    Deadly Nigeria bomb attacks condemned by world leaders  
    With a report by them that a bomb went off near one church. Not even the Islamic media does the same amount of cover-up as the bbC does?

       0 likes

    • james1070 says:

      Well the headline Muzlims Suicide Bomb Christians would be considered Islamophobic by the BBC. However it is slightly better than the BBC’s usual headline Christians Clash With Muslims when these things happen.

         0 likes

      • Pounce says:

        Have a look again at the article. The bBC informs the reader of how nasty Christians have blockaded the road from the capital to the Islamic north.

           0 likes

  34. Umbongo says:

    On the 9:00 Radio 4 News bulletin the spokesman for ASLEF was given an unchallenged 15/30 second soundbite from his earlier (respectfully received) screech on Today to tell us why the tube drivers in his union are reneging on a 15 year-old agreement in order to strike on Boxing Day unless TfL pays blackmail.  Completely impartial and no bias, of course, but oddly I didn’t hear the opposing view put – or mentioned – in the bulletin.

       0 likes

  35. Umbongo says:

    Lord Coe’s editorship of Today was punctuated by recordings of screaming, near-hysterical sports commentators informing a stunned public concerning (amongst other triumphs) Coe’s victory in the Moscow Olympics.  Is there any doubt that Coe would have struggled for a gold medal if the partial boycott of those Olympics hadn’t occurred?  
     
    Further to the manufactured hysteria at the BBC concerning London 2012, since London was awarded the Olympics I’ve rarely heard or seen on the BBC (and, to be fair, anywhere else in the MSM) coverage – let alone sustained coverage – of objections to the expense and disruption of London 2012.  Even the severe budget overruns are treated as an uncontrollable fact of nature (unlike the occasional warm day in June in the BBC’s CAGW reportage).  
     
    All we get is Adrian Warner on the local BBC TV News – always prefaced by an aerial shot of the white elephant in waiting of the Olympic Stadium – informing us what a triumph this is going to be; and if you don’t believe him here’s another interview with Tessa Jowell.  The sole – albeit grudging – non-negative coverage of the Boris mayoralty on the BBC concerns his support for London 2012 and the partial suspension of civil liberties for the duration of the Games.

       0 likes

    • cjhartnett says:

      Truly desperate puff for the ever so wondrous Lord Coe…the Beebs idea of a Tory.
      Maybe if the Tories all bought matching running shoes and pissed off the dignified Steve Ovett, then The Toady Show might think better of them all.
      No Ovett interview as far as I could tell, which shows you who is a media pimp, and who has grown old with style.
      Noted the BBC squauking about the sales-the hysteria being whipped up-another IKEA if they`re lucky.
      But won`t this be good for the Tories growth figures?…oh no!

         0 likes

      • Umbongo says:

        “the Beebs idea of a Tory”  
         
        Possibly, although more probably he’s just the type of Tory the BBC likes to deal with (ie a cigarette paper’s thickness from Labour and consumed with righting the wrongs of the Thatcher administration).  OTOH, the BBC’s idea of a Tory for public consumption is straight out of the BBC’s equivalent of the Der Stürmer department where the Tories are still grinding the faces of the poor, shooting miners, beatifying bankers, returning black “Britons” to slavery, demonising Moslems etc etc.

           0 likes

    • caroline stanley says:

      I love the smell of “the partial suspension of civil liberties for the duration of the Games” in the morning.
      What are they planning to do?! Haven’t we suffered enough?

         0 likes

      • Umbongo says:

        CS

        “the partial suspension of civil liberties for the duration of the Games” has started with the Zil traffic lanes for officials, politicians (and, if available, some competitors).  The deployment of troops to aid the (alledgedly) overstretched police and other security arrangements are outlined here http://www.london2012.com/safety-and-security .  This has all been agreed and approved, I suspect, by the IOC and their catspaws here (at the cost of another few £00 million).

        Also, I wouldn’t try protesting at any Games venue since, I reckon, even Occupy the Olympics (a figment of my imagination, so far) would be swiftly shown the door.  Even the Guardian – not a well-known advocate for civil liberties when public money is to be splurged on a diversity event – is chary of the heavy-handed approach of London 2012’s enablers http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/aug/26/ioc-london-2012-olympic-games .

           0 likes

  36. cjhartnett says:

    A pearl of a show this Friday at 8pm.
    I heard the names…Doucett,Mardell and Mason among them…then thought that I`ll be kinder to the godawful Jonny Dimblebum next week.
    I think back to last year…no talk of the Euro, no riots, no phone hacking and no Arab Spring…in short, these Beeboids predicted nothing that they say mattered this year.
    I`ll be surprised if Patten lets them say too much about Europe this time either.
    I therefore predict Belgium to split, Korea to be nearing reunification and the Euro to splatter…and Ed Balls to resign over something dodgy.The Olympics will be crap too!
    Can I cover the Obama coronation now?…

       0 likes

  37. Martin says:

    The BBC scum should remember that our OWN crews were left to die in the cold sea because to stop a ship to pick them up could make you a sitting target for submarines.

    The vermin scum at the BBC have been peddling lies about WW2 for years now, I guess Hitler was their sort of Socialist, after all he had the BBC’s ideal solution to the Jews.

       0 likes

    • matthew rowe says:

      The BBC constantly belittle our achievements during the war you only have to look at how they re-run our ‘defeats’ even though non of them truly were !Dunkirk ,Good wood ,Arnhem, Dieppe , then call in some post useful Historian to tell us our victory’s were wrong as well !

         0 likes

      • Martin says:

        Don’t forget the Falklands war, the BBC HATED the result of that one!

           0 likes

        • matthew rowe says:

          Yep Martin  !god they hated that one !!

             0 likes

          • Reed says:

            They hated it because it made Thatcher! popular and because it was fully justified. It was a bit awkward for the left at the time to argue against repelling a fascist military dictatorship from British territory that had placed the Island’s citizens under martial law. They gave it a go, but it was desparate and politically motivated in a very transparent fashion. This is why they seized upon the Belgrano incident immediately, as it gave the left the opportunity to throw the accusations at Thatcher that they had been longing to ; aggresive war-monger, Imperialist, opportunist blah blah blah…
            However, these armchair Admirals have since been proven wrong in regard to the sinking of the Belgrano, as history has shown…

            http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/8965405/Belgrano-was-heading-to-the-Falklands-secret-papers-reveal.html

            http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2078749/Belgrano-fair-target-headed-Falklands-exclusion-zone-NOT-port-according-secret-dossier.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

            Here’s two quotes from Saint Tony Blair during his 1982 by-election in regard to the Falklands :

            “I want a negotiated settlement and I believe that given the starkness of the military options we need to compromise on certain things.” 
            “I don’t think that ultimately the wishes of the Falkland islanders must determine our position.”

            http://chameleonsonbicycles.wordpress.com/2007/04/02/blairs-falklands-support-is-all-lies/

            The contrast between his opinions then on the Falklands conflict (where British territory was invaded) with his approach to Iraq ( that posed no threat to UK citizens) couldn’t be starker. It was Blair who was the REAL opportunist, except that he got it wrong on both occasions.

               0 likes

            • Cassandra King says:

              Wherever the UK has an enemy that enemy has a friend in the left and the BBC.

              Whenever the UK is under threat those doing the threatening have allies in the BBC and the left.

              There are those in the world who hate us and everything we stand for and all of them can count on the left and the BBC for support and succour.

              Our real enemies  are right here at home, they hate us more than than any external enemy, they mean to destroy us if they can.

                 0 likes

  38. George R says:

    NIGERIA: OBAMA’s silence (of which INBBC is aware), on Islamic jihad:

    “Nigeria Christmas church massacres: Obama says ‘senseless’, won’t say ‘Muslim'”

    http://www.examiner.com/jewish-culture-in-philadelphia/nigeria-christmas-church-massacres-obama-says-senseless-won-t-say-muslim

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  39. George R says:

    INBBC, chum of Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s Imran KHAN.

    INBBC is politically friendly towards Muslim, anti-American Pakistan politician, Imran KHAN (as illustrated below by INBBC’s Aleen MAQBOOL)
    .
    And, of course, in contrast, INBBC is politically hostile to anti-Islam, pro-American, Dutch politician, Geert WILDERS.

    “Pakistan Imran Khan rally draws tens of thousands”

    (inc video clip).

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16330276

    An alternative, non-INBBC view of Khan (2008)

    Not Well-Bowled, Imran Khan

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  40. Gerald says:

    Bit late, but interesting item on Toady this morning re hunting. The RSPCA pressure group representative stated that there had been many convictions for “hunting” since the passage of “the Act”, to which the Countryside Alliance lady promptly responded that most of them were in Merseyside and Humberside, strangely where there are no hunts and that most of the prosecutions were actually for poaching, which the Act also covered.

    Now guess which excerpt they used on the main news. Yes, you guessed it, the RSPCA quote, but not the clarifying one, leaving the GBP with the distinct impression of major law breaking by hunts.

    Regarding the Nigerian Islamic “militants” can we expect the Norwegian massacre to be put down to a “Christian militant” making the deaths o.k. in BBC eyes?

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  41. George R says:

    Not a story for INBBC to report, about a Muslim woman shot dead in U.S.

    “Woman accused of sending fake WMDs to politician shot dead after attacking police officer”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2078730/Woman-accused-sending-fake-WMDs-politician-shot-dead-attacking-police-officer.html#ixzz1hfG4yHky

    Supplementary:

    Georgia Muslim woman who threatened Rep. King shot dead in struggle with a cop

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  42. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Local governments in China are deferring debt payments because their economy is screwed. Their combined debts are immense, to the tune of 10.7 trillion yuan (about $1.7 trillion) last year.  They’re not even paying debts from 2009, when the Chinese did their own version of Keynseian stimulus spending. How’s that working out now? Not well, obviously. Bond yields falling, credit default swaps cost more.

    BBC: China has made this great currency trade deal with Japan, with the goal of opening the country up to more outside investement, and as China seeks to push a “global role” for the yuan. Nothing to see here, move along. Everything is fine, ignore the debt and impending collapse behind the curtain.

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  43. Pounce says:

    After my post early this morning about how the bBC found Norman Scarth,WW2 vet who waxed lyrical about the sinking of the Scharnhorst. I did a little search on the man they interviewed and guess what why am I not surprised at how the bBC used this man in which to base their poor little Nazis lost the war article.  
    For a start, he’s a nutter who was jailed in 2001 for attacking a  bailiff with a chainsaw and stabbing another. The same Norman Scarth who was jailed for six months this year for contempt of court . The same Norman Scarth who thinks that the UK today is worse than Nazis Germany was with its gas chambers.
    I wonder why the bBC picked this man to re-write the tale of the sinking of the Scharnhorst. You know that Scharnhorst which along with the Gneisenau sank the Aircraft carrier HMS Glorious along with her two escorts and then left around 900 men who had abandoned ship to die.

    As for the heroic actions of the 20mm gun which continued firing until the end. I suggest the bBC re-read the last hours of the Jarvis Bay.  Now there’s a tale to bring  tears in your eyes.

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    • Buggy says:

      He sounds a bit “lively”, doesn’t he ?

      Does he know that the top lawyer in the whole country is actually one W. Bragg, Esq, who pretends to be a sometime warbler of popular tunes ?

      Perhaps someone could let him know. With detailed directions to Chateau Pravda mayhap ?

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Nice work, pounce. Looks like this angry old man was singing that same Scharnhorst song on his own blog in Feb. 2010.  The BBC must have really dug deep for that one.

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    • matthew rowe says:

      Pounce the B-BBC ignores history it cannot abuse in their horrible way, like the Jarvis bay Or Tank aces like Joe Ekins not even  one of my personal heroes Captain Frederic John Walker? in fact I cannot think of any series that was commissioned by the B-BBC except maybe ‘War walks’  and the few brought in P.B.S  ‘Battlefields’series show once  a very long time ago, that even come close to being classed in the same league as the evil commercial sectors ‘world at war’ even Al Murray’s ‘road to Berlin’ was better then anything the BBC a have done for 10+ YEARS ??

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  44. cjhartnett says:

    It helps me to see the BBC and the Guardian as the idiot Siamese twins that it`s probably best not to separate…at least we know that their “one voice” is a dissonant echo of whoever slept in whoevers bed the previous night…or who get to the microphones first next morning.

    Sadly and terminally joined at the brain…and not even Channel 5 on a slow day would commission the show that follows the “separation” from monoculture to double minded echo.
    Both the BBC and Guardian are utterly predictable in all that they say and do…and this year is already mapped out for them.
    Irrelevant and wrong in all that they will say and do…so enjoy their suicide pact in slo-mo…they reveal themselves each and every day!

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  45. George R says:

      LONDON, Oxford Street knife killing: how surprising?    
       
      Murdered at Boxing Day sales: Teenager stabbed on Oxford Street and ANOTHER knifed in separate attack as horrified shoppers look on

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2078702/Fatal-stabbing-Oxford-Street-Boxing-Day-sales.html#ixzz1hgj3JiJ7
       
       
    Is this another example of gang warfare between black gangs?   
     
    I don’t trust BBC-NUJ to tell us.   
       
    London is increasingly a city of foreigners and immigrants to indigenous Londoners.  (Check the photos above.)  
       
    And this was Oxford Street, London, May 2008:    
       
       
    “Man killed in Oxford St was on bail for horrific acid rape; Second youth is knifed later the same day ”    
       
    http://gangsinlondon.blogspot.com/2008/05/man-killed-in-oxford-st-was-on-bail-for.html

       


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    • As I See It says:

      As for the Oxford Street incident – we don’t know many facts as yet and I guess I won’t be relying on the Beeb to be the first to tell me more….

      (was it a black man what done it BBC?)

      Ok it is early days and the cops may asking the press to keep schtum (racial sensitivies and all that) – but what I find strange is that in stark contrast to this in the case of the Salford shooting the BBC appear only too keen to talk about race….

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-16337361

      ‘Mr Bidve was with nine students, all Indians, when they were approached by two men in Ordsall Lane.’

      No less than three mentions of the word India in the first six lines of the BBC report.

      Was it a white man what done it BBC?

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  46. As I See It says:

    The latest incarnation of Dr Who inhabits a strange, parallel, get ’em young universe of BBC PC propaganda.

    For the Christmas special we have an ancient and almost forgotten yet truly villainous monster brought out of stasis by the Beeb to come back to life to terrorise the little viewers into hiding behind the sofa.


    ACID RAIN!

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  47. Umbongo says:

    The only mention of colour in the BBC reports of violence and murder in London and Manchester was that the Manchester killer was apparently white.  I (and, I suspect, millions of other listeners and viewers) immediately drew the (correct) conclusion that the perps – and the victims – in Oxford Street were representatives of that lively diversified culture bubbling away in the cauldron of (South) London council estates.  
     
    It was a relief to turn to the Radio 4 news bulletin and be informed that there had been trouble in Israel between orthodox Jews (10% of the population we were told) and secular Jews concerning incidents concerning attacks on women (presumably for “immodesty”).   Apparently – according to the 50 word report in the Times on the same incidents – “a stone was thrown”.  Of all the news in the world (particularly the Moslem world) – including the continuing murders and harassment of Christians by Moslems – this item was the one selected by the BBC to highlight.  I wonder why.

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    • Barry says:

      “a stone was thrown”

      OMG!

      Was a window broken, or did this WMD turn out to be a dud?

      And did the monster who launched this evil Jewish missile STEAL A BICYCLE in order to escape?

      Horrific!

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The black hats were throwing rocks at immodestly (in their opiniion) dressed women and cars driving on the highway on the Sabbath back when I went to school there in 1981. And they were only carrying on a millenia-old tradition. This news is as old as the hills surrounding Jerusalem. But anything that can be made a negative about Israel leaps to the top of the news agenda, eh, BBC?

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  48. cjhartnett says:

    The BBC won`t us worrying our dozy little heads about threats to the lovely world of nice things as portrayed by the baby Santa at this time of year.
    Hence no mention of any unpleasantness going on…unless some horrid names were called out or inappropriate body language was employed somewhere inside the story.
    Any Jew or right wing type like Palin will of course not be spared the “peace and love” rules of engagement set out this winterval.
    For gangstas and soljas an t`ing…why,get a bag of blow and kick it around the no-mans land of Snaresbrook all you like guys.

    Heard Rowan Williams holding forth on Dostoevsky this morning…not surprisingly, Fydor was as amoral, equivocal and woolly-headed as dear Rowan. Not my reading, but there again, I`m not the expert!
    Wonder somewhere if there`s not a hungover dopey lecturer in Russian and Eastern European Studies waking up today thinking that he ought to have been the Archbishop of Canterbury!

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  49. Martin says:

    I notice the BBC won’t tell us that the stabbing in Oxford street was more black on black knife crime, but HAPPILY informs us that the man who shot the Indian student dead was WHITE, even though there is no proof yet it was a ‘racist’ crime, just that the Police are not ruling it out.

    The BBC have decided it is racist, funny how the BBC get selective when it come sot colour.

    I noticed that on the film that Sky showed of the stabbing in Oxford street yesterday the blacks there seemed hell bent on confronting the Police just as the paramedics are trying to save the life of the stabbed boy.

    I also noticed (the BBC didn’t) that in the riots in America over some silly shoe ALL the film I saw involved blacks rioting.

    That also went unreported by the BBC.

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    • Daniel Smith says:

      The verbal tricks which the BBC uses not to report the facts are becoming increasingly silly and sinister. 2 rival black gangs were described on the news as ‘groups of people’ as though they just random shoppers, the now universal ‘youths’ as euphemism for black thugs is much in evidence although the victim gets an upgrade to ‘man’ despite being only 18. I await the headline 18 year old man killed by 35 year old youth.
      Really it is sad that the BBc has come to this. Now the news is so censored that one is forced to read between the lines to get the facts. Thank godness fof the internet or it would undoubtedly be worse.

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